TAMPA, Fla. — Closing their six-game homestand Thursday night against a Blue Jackets squad with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference, the Lightning had to be careful not to be lulled into a letdown game.
Any team can beat another on any given night in the NHL, but a Columbus team decimated by injuries had little margin for error against Tampa Bay.
Still, the Lightning went into the third period with the game tied and having to fight for two points before pulling away for a 4-1 win.
The go-ahead goal, the first of three third-period scores to pull away, wasn’t exactly by design. Nikita Kucherov’s pass to Brandon Hagel deflected off Brayden Point’s skate back to him. But the puck ended up where it needed to, in the back of the net.
Kucherov tapped it back to Hagel speeding down the right side. Hagel’s pass for Point, camped at the far post, deflected off the stick of Columbus defenseman Marcus Bjork. Goaltender Daniil Tarasov made the save, but Point pushed in the rebound just over nine minutes into the third period.
Kucherov’s pass to Hagel minutes later was a clean one. He sent the puck across the ice to the wide-open Hagel for a goal that would give the Lightning a two-goal cushion with 6:24 remaining.
Kucherov then passed up an empty net in the final minutes, feeding Hagel for an open net to make it 4-1.
With the win, the Lightning (18-9-1, 37 points) finished their homestand 5-1-0 and have now won six of their last seven and 12 of 15 as they look forward to a five-game road trip beginning Saturday in Montreal.
The Lightning are 8-2-0 when tied entering the third period.
They ran out to an early lead on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s first goal of the season just under four minutes into the game.
Bellemare ‘s goal was the ninth scored by the bottom-six forwards over the past nine games. He took a drop pass from Vladislav Namestnikov and wristed a shot from the top of the left circle.
Tarasov kept the Blue Jackets in the game early, stopping Kucherov’s wide-open snap shot from the right post, one of 11 saves Tarasov made in the first period.
When Kirill Machenko beat Lightning goaltender Brian Elliott (24 saves) with a wrist shot from above the left dot, a shot that beat Elliott gloveside inside the far post, the Lightning found themselves in a battle.
After Columbus dominated zone time through the second period, Tampa Bay had three beautiful chances from in front on the power play, but Tarasov refused to break, stopping each one.
